Movies with magic, should we avoid them

[6857g]

My parents never prohibit us from watching any type of movies. And now that I have kids the only movies I don’t let them watch is scary movies. Before I met my current husband my son’s and I had a VHS movie collection going. Which included the movies Matilda and Jumanji. We had watched those movies before. But when we tried to watch them with my husband for movie night he said that those movies were satanic as they contained magic. He’s never watched them before and he has a different faith than mine. My question is are those movies really bad? Should I have never let my sons watch it?
My parents let my siblings and I watch anything as long as it wasn’t like sexual or something like that and I think I turned out fine. I would like to hear what you guys have to say

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

My parents never prohibit us from watching any type of movies. And now that I have kids the only movies I don’t let them watch is scary movies. Before I met my current husband my son’s and I had a VHS movie collection going. Which included the movies Matilda and Jumanji. We had watched those movies before. But when we tried to watch them with my husband for movie night he said that those movies were satanic as they contained magic. He’s never watched them before and he has a different faith than mine. My question is are those movies really bad? Should I have never let my sons watch it?
My parents let my siblings and I watch anything as long as it wasn’t like sexual or something like that and I think I turned out fine. I would like to hear what you guys have to say

Matilda and Jumanji are both great kids movies for the later elementary years. I do think some of the abuse issues in Matilda are a bit over the top in both the movie and the books, but many children seem to enjoy “hating” the big bad mean adult antagonists.

Does your husband also disapprove of Narnia and Lord of the Rings?

There are many Catholic writers who wrote using the allegory of magic.

 

[1ke]

he said that those movies were satanic as they contained magic. He’s never watched them before and he has a different faith than mine. My question is are those movies really bad? Should I have never let my sons watch it?

These are prudential matters. Each person is different, and some people have sensitive consciences. Occult influences can impact people to a greater or lesser degree. Some people are more sensitive to movie content than others.

My parents let my siblings and I watch anything as long as it wasn’t like sexual or something like that and I think I turned out fine.

I think a Catholic parent should be more discerning that that. There are a lot of ways a movie can be morally offensive other than just sexual content. And, parents should definitely know the themes and content of movies, particularly for younger children.

 

[TheLittleLady]

I was not allowed to watch “Bewitched” or to see “Escape to Witch Mountain” when I was a kid, but, it was okay to read/see “Wizard of Oz” and all the Disney stuff.

 

[starlady]

6857g:

he said that those movies were satanic as they contained magic. He’s never watched them before and he has a different faith than mine. My question is are those movies really bad? Should I have never let my sons watch it?

These are prudential matters. Each person is different, and some people have sensitive consciences. Occult influences can impact people to a greater or lesser degree. Some people are more sensitive to movie content than others.

Yes, this.

My parents were concerned about Harry Potter, but after reading the first book, decided it wasn’t a big deal. Harry Potter was a big part of my childhood, but my brothers and I were never interested in trying to perform actual witchcraft (of course, we pretended to be the characters, as is common with any child and any story, but we never took it to serious attempts at magic). My parents were very clear that that was not to be tolerated. Indeed, we are also big fans of The Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia.

My husband, on the other hand, is not a big fan of them. He grew up in a very conservative community where all things Harry Potter and even The Lord of the Rings were labelled as bad (although, interestingly enough, he doesn’t have a problem with The Chronicles of Narnia or with the fairy godmother in Cinderella, for example). Even though I like Harry Potter, I don’t force my husband to watch the movies or read the books with me if he is uncomfortable. He, as 1ke suggests, is one person who is more sensitive to occult influences, whereas I merely see those stories as fantasy adventures and nothing more. I don’t think your husband should have to watch them if he doesn’t want to, but I don’t think he should be able to force you to get rid of them either.

 

[runningdude]

If you are raising your children in the faith, then there is no particular need to be concerned about cartoon magic. The genra is called “fantasy” for a reason!

 

[6857g]

I think a Catholic parent should be more discerning that that. There are a lot of ways a movie can be morally offensive other than just sexual content. And, parents should definitely know the themes and content of movies, particularly for younger children.

I guess that’s true I mean they would obviously make us cover our eyes when something bad was going to happen, but we did watch a lot of scary movies as kids and they did scar me for life
Thank you guys for your thoughts, it’s helping me be more considerate of his feelings towards that point. At first I thought he was being dramatic and a bit much but I guess we aren’t all the same